Patna,(BiharTimes): Adopting soft line towards the Left extremists Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi see no wrong in what Maoists are doing by collecting levy from contractors engaged in building roads, community buildings and other government works.

Talking to reporters on the sidelines of his Janata Darbar on Monday he sought to justify extortion of levy by Left extremists from contractors who, according to him, are indulging in corruption and looting the state.

The chief minister said that those who have turned Maoists also belong to the country and they could be won back to mainstream not by brandishing guns but by development. On whether his government would talk to them he said Lok Nayak Jaya Prakash Narayan and several chief ministers had held talks with the Maoists and asked them to give up arms.

Manjhi said that such move would not demoralize the security force involved in the campaign against the Maoists. He disclosed that about three years back when he was a minister in the then Nitish Kumar cabinet, some people claiming to be Maoists had approached him to justify their levy demand from contractors.